We didn’t learn much about Johnny Manziel last year for a number of reasons. Freshman players at Texas A&M aren’t allowed to speak to the media. Manziel hadn’t yet morphed into Johnny Football. Most importantly, the college football world had only begun treating him like the guy Tim Tebow worships.

But now, Johnny Manziel is showing his true colours and they couldn’t be any uglier.

Obviously, the NCAA’s half game penalty to Manziel didn’t teach him a lesson. The slap on the wrist simply inflated Mr. Football’s ego. It confirmed his belief that he is invincible.

Time after time this off-season, Manziel has thrown the middle finger in the face of his critics. He didn’t care that he was sent home from the Manning camp. He knew it would cause an uproar going to a University of Texas frat party. He signed autographs in exchange for money even though his family is rich as holy hell.

Johnny Football don’t care because Johnny Football is above the law. At least, that’s how Johnny Football views the world.

After his performance on the field today, it is clear as to how Johnny Manziel perceives his place on this earth. He taunted a defender by pretending to sign his autograph. He celebrated on two occasions by giving the ca$h money sign with his hands.

I hate to put it in such a low brow way but Manziel is a douche bag. He isn’t just a douchebag. He is lord of the douchebags and seems perfectly happy with carrying that title.

By making reference to his recent mini scandal multiple times on national TV, Johnny Manziel is carving out his place as the next Alex Rodriguez in professional sports.

Manziel is the kind of douchebag that you can’t quite define. I’m all for taunting on the field but when Chad Ochocinco tries to bribe a referee with a dollar bill, it comes off as endearing. When Johnny For whatever reason, Manziel throws up the ca$h money sign with both hands, I’m pissed off. It’s not very hard to picture him as the dude wearing the Delta Kappa Epsilon t-shirt as a head band during college orientation week.

Douchebag.

If Manziel is able to translate his skills to the next level, he will become the NFL’s most polarizing figure. It’s incredibly simplistic to attribute his actions to “just being a kid” or “boys will be boys”. There are lots of “kids” who have been showered with praise in the manner that Johnny Manziel has without transforming into raging ego-maniacs. Tim Tebow, LeBron James and Sidney Crosby are names that immediately come to mind.

As much as people may hate LeBron James, it is not because he has that douchebaggy, A-Fraud kind of aura to him.

Sadly, Johnny Manziel gives off that vibe and it won’t serve him well moving forward. Alex Rodriguez is lucky he plays what is essentially an individual sport. As much as we hear reports that Manziel’s teammates adore him, those college kids who look up to him now will turn into grown men in the NFL.

Manziel isn’t merely enjoying the fruits of his labour at this point. He goes out of his way to flaunt his success in everyone’s faces. His ego has become the size of Barry Bonds’ head circa 2001. It’s a huge turn off.

If you look at the greatest leaders in the NFL, they aren’t frat boys who happen to play football really well. If Manziel continues down this path, ‘haters gonna hate’ will become his go to phrase on twitter.

Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin has to bench him. Benching him for a half will do a whole lot more than the NCAA’s pathetic double standard of a suspension did. He needs to take a page from Don Mattingly’s book. Yasiel Puig, who has been basking a little too hard in the glow of his own phenomenon, forced Mattingly’s hand. There were rumblings that players were getting upset and understandably so.

Puig’s ego ain’t got nothing on Johnny Football.

While Manziel’s future success is far from a guarantee, there are other things that are certainties. Professional football players won’t tolerate Manziel the way he handles that ego. The media won’t give him any breaks. Diehard football fans can be as ruthless and unforgiving as they come.

It is possible that Manziel will mature and shed this other label he is creating for himself. However, someone has to stop him in his tracks. And fast.

Because Johnny Football appears to be just getting started.

Agree? Disagree? Reply in the comments section below or e-mail me at cross_can15@hotmail.com

Also, you can follow me on twitter @chrisrossPTB and I will happily return the favour.

6 Responses to The Next A-Rod

Chris, you are spot on with this one. I think we put up with one more year of J.F. and he then let’s his success go to his head and declares for the NFL draft. Because of his average arm strength and undersized frame, he amounts to nothing in the pros and we are rid of the douche-bag forever. Great post, thanks!

The Aggies are just as culpable in this whole Manziel saga , as is the player , himself and the proprietors who paid him the money to begin with . Are they so damn stupid , that they simply do not understand the NCAA rules ?

As to Johnny Manziel as a player , well it is patently obvious that his brain and intellect are pea sized to begin with . Another Tim Tebow in the making , overrated and one big bust , all inside of four years in the NFL .

Lord of the douchebags? Really? You don’t think that is stretcthing it a bit?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending the guy; he’s acting EXACTLY like I would expect most 20-year old kids in his position to react.

First of all, here’s a kid who went from relative obscurity to king of the college football world in the span of about nine weeks. The kid who doesn’t get a serious brain-fuck from that is the exceptional one. Let’s not forget that as a star athlete even before anybody ever heard of him, this kid was treated differently by every coach from Pop Warner level on up. He been treated differently by anybody who has even the remotest interest in athletics. A guy doesn’t become a douchebag simply because he get to play by a different set of rules created by coaches,boosters, parents, and (wait for it…) fans. What it comes down to is Manziel is a symptom of a much larger problem, but that’s for another day.

Here’s what really makes a guy a douchebag…the guy who takes advantage of that status to do some really bad shit. Manziel is really doing little more than playing annoying frat-boy, and for that, you elevated him to the level of guys who used their elevated status granted via sports for diecidely harmful purposes. As much as you want to pile on Johnny Football, he ain’t no Aaron Hernandez or Jerry Sandusky.

Here’s the bottom line. We’ve really got to stop this “everything is the worst thing ever.” Remember how six weeks ago Riley Cooper was the worst human being ever? Now, nobody remembers who he is.

So, Is Johnny Manziel a douchebag? Yep. Is the the lord of all douchebags? Not even close.

Comparing him to A-Rod implies cheating and Manziel ain’t doin’ that, at least as far as we know. He’s just enjoying his too-big-for-his-britchesness. While we would probably still hate A-Rod for his douchiness, we probably wouldn’t hate him as much had he not taken PEDs and lied about it. Repeatedly.

Politely, I couldn’t disagree more with this article. Johnny Manziel could go down as the greatest college football player of all time. He lit the college football world on fire last season, winning the Heisman, and now he is doing the same thing this season, with a huge target on his back. He is better than every player and he knows it. Manziel deserves praise because look at what he is doing. Look what he did to Alabama this season. If making “money” gestures and getting a “big head” affect his performance, then I can agree with you. But to call him a douchebag, because he knows he is better than everyone else, is not fair. And he is great for college football and college sports, in general. He brings excitement. I’m sick of all this “everything is vanilla” shit in college sports. He plays with emotion.